The Witch and the King
by Razor Knight
Summary: Sakura faces new enemies who use strange cards, and will need all the help she can get to defeat them. But she will find a boy named Yugi, who is also being targeted by them. Their combined skills may be the only thing that can save the world...
1. Dangerous games

**The Witch and the King**

**A Card Captor Sakura/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover**

**Episode 1: Dangerous Games.**

_By Razor Knight_

_Last update: April 17, 2009_

* * *

She didn't know where she was, or how she had ended there, but she could see cards floating around her, circling her. Some of those cards were familiar to her, but others weren't. Some were her own cards, while the rest were... Different. She was in the dark, but not an enclosed darkness. A tall building rose in front of her, and as she looked up, she saw a man standing on top of it. She could see his figure, but not his face, as the full moon was right behind him.

"You've got something I want, Kinomoto, and I will soon have it."

"Wait, who are you?"

The man vanished without answering, and she was left standing there, wondering what he had meant, and who he was.

* * *

She sat on her bed and looked around. A dream, and just like when she was younger, she could guess it was a premonition. "Kero, are you awake?"

Kero floated up from the drawer he had been using as a bed for years now. "Sakura, you're up earlier than usual. What's wrong?"

"I had a strange dream."

"Been a while," Kero said, turning around as Sakura started changing. "What was it about?"

"There was a tall building, and I had cards floating around me... Some of them were my cards, but there were others I didn't recognize. And there was also a man there, he said I had something he wanted, and that he would have it soon."

"Sounds like a new enemy is coming," Kero admitted.

Sakura was, by now, done dressing up for school. "Whatever that man wants, I'm not going to let him have it."

Kero smiled at that. Sakura had grown stronger in the last few years, much stronger than when she faced Eriol, or even the Void card. And she had grown a lot too, physically. Not surprising, since she was sixteen now. "I'll go check what's for breakfast."

"Go right ahead," Sakura said with a smile. She picked her cards and smiled. She had a guess on what that man could want, and if that was the case, then she would make sure nothing happened to any of her friends.

* * *

As she walked into the kitchen, she could see Touya and Kero were glaring at each other. "Okay, what's wrong this time?"

"Your stuffed toy tried to eat off my share again," Touya noted.

"Kero..."

"That's not true," Kero said, trying to look as innocent as he could.

Fujitaka smiled at the scene as he brought two more dishes to the table. "Here's your share, Kerberos. Good morning, Sakura."

Sakura smiled at her father. "Good morning."

It had been only a matter of time before her father found out about her secret, and he had found out a few years ago, when she had to save him from some strange monsters. He hadn't been _too_ shocked to find out what his daughter could do, maybe because, Sakura guessed, he had known something was up all along.

Her thoughts returned to her dream. What worried her wasn't that man's words, but those cards, the cards she had seen circling her. She couldn't remember how any of them looked, only that they weren't her cards. And yet, there was something strangely familiar about them.

"Hey, isn't the brat coming to pick you up?"

Sakura gave Touya a glare. "I've told you not to call Syaoran that. "

"Old habits," Touya countered, then noticed Kero smiling at that. "Anyway, I'm off to work."

Sakura watched her brother leave and frowned. What was this, the hundredth job she'd seen him take? She had heard about that store at school, apparently some of the games sold there were quite popular nowadays. Specially something called duel monsters or something like that.

The doorbell took her out of her line of thought. She had already finished eating her breakfast, so she stood up and opened the door. "Hi Syaoran."

"Hi." Syaoran smiled at her, then nodded at Fujitaka as he walked in. "Good morning, Mr. Kinomoto."

"Morning. Are you leaving for school already?"

"Yes," Sakura said, "we'll be going now."

"Take care out there," Fujitaka said, keeping his smile as Sakura and Syaoran walked out of the house. He then looked at Kero and turned serious. "Something's upsetting her."

It wasn't a question, and Kero knew it. "Yes, she had a dream about a new enemy last night."

"Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on her, then, Kerberos?"

Kero shook his head at that. "She's grown strong. I trust she'll be able to take care of herself." That sounded nice, yes, but Kero had a strange feeling, as if the new enemy was closer than they thought.

* * *

"Good morning, Sakura. And you too, Syaoran."

Sakura smiled. "Hi Tomoyo." She looked at the classroom and frowned. "What's going on?"

"Yamazaki's having a duel," Tomoyo said.

"Duel?" Sakura looked at Yamazaki, who was playing cards with some other classmate. "Oh, that game."

"I activate Premature Burial, bringing my Red Eyes Skull Dragon back, then attack your Gaia."

The other boy sighed. "You win again, Yamazaki."

"He seems to be rather good at that game," Tomoyo commented.

"This isn't just a game," Yamazaki said, turning to them with his patented 'I'm going to tell you something that probably isn't true' pose. "See, they used this game in ancient Egypt to decide the outcome of wars. Only they didn't use cards, but large stone tablets where real monsters were kept, and also..."

"That's enough, Yamazaki," Chiharu said as she covered the guy's mouth with her hands. "I thought you were out of that phase."

"I heard that story elsewhere," the boy Yamazaki had just defeated noted.

"Oh please. Monsters coming out of cards? Who would believe such a dumb story?" Chiharu said.

Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo looked at each other, and they knew they were all thinking the same. Maybe there was, for a change, some true in Yamazaki's story?

"Anyhow, put those cards away, the teacher's going to be here any minute now."

Syaoran looked around. "You can feel it, can't you?"

Sakura nodded. "There's magic, and nearby. Maybe it's got to do with my dream."

She had told him about her dream on their way to school, and Syaoran knew that it meant trouble for them. But he was ready to protect her against whatever danger she would face.

* * *

Hours later, the three were walking back home. Sakura and Tomoyo were chatting as they walked, but Sakura's mind was only half into their conversation. She could feel someone was following them, and whoever it was, wasn't apprently leaving on its own.

Tomoyo was surprised to see Sakura stop suddenly, but then noticed the look she was giving Syaoran. "Oh my... There's trouble, right?"

Sakura turned around and looked straight to a tree. "Show yourself, I know you're there. I can feel your magic."

A woman walked out from behind the tree, smiling. "I see it's true, you're quite good, Kinomoto."

"Who are you?"

"Name's Seraph, and I'm here to invite you to our group."

"Your group," Sakura repeated, "I'm not joining it."

"Then let me challenge you," Seraph said, "let's fight, and if you win, then I'll leave you alone. If you lose, you'll join us."

"I don't like those terms," Sakura said.

"Well, here's the thing... If you don't accept my challenge, then I will have to hurt someone you care about. So, do you accept?"

Sakura sighed and looked at Tomoyo before turning to the woman. "I suppose I will have to defeat you, then."

"Sakura..." Tomoyo was worried, she didn't want her friend to be hurt because of her, but what could she do to stop this? Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do.

"Good," Seraph said and reached out, a handful of cards appearing in her hand. "Let the battle begin."

"Cards?" Tomoyo asked.

"They look like those duel cards," Syaoran noted. "But these ones have magic in them. Be careful, Sakura."

Sakura nodded. The magic they had felt wasn't from the woman herself, since this Seraph person was weaker than she had been when she started collecting the Clow cards. The cards, however, had powerful magic.

Suddenly, several lines of light appeared between them. The ground was turned in a sort of field, with twenty small, identical rectangles. "A duel monster field?" Tomoyo pondered as she recognized the field.

"What, you mean it's that game?" Sakura asked. "But I have none of those cards!"

_'We will fight for you, Sakura.'_

She smiled and reached out her hand, her Sakura cards appearing in it. "I understand."

"Anytime you're ready," Seraph noted.

"You go first," Sakura said, "since I don't really know the rules. "

The woman drew five cards out of her deck, then a sixth one, and smiled. Yes, she could use this strategy to defeat the newbie easily. "Right, so I'll put a face-down card and a face-down monster on the field, and end my turn."

Sakura smiled. She had seen people playing that game, but she hadn't paid much attention to it. She regretted that now, since she would have to learn how to play by watching this woman's movements. As the woman had played her cards, magical copies of them had appeared on the field, face down.

"I see, so I can put a monster like that, and you won't know what it is until you attack it."

Seraph nodded. "Easy to play, huh? But there's another reason for me not to place that monster in attack position, and it's because whoever goes first can't attack on their first turn. But enough Duel 101, let's see what you've got."

Sakura looked at her hand. Mist, Bubble, Fire, Wood and Mirror. She listened to the cards and nodded, already realizing they were quite a good hand to have. Well, 'listening' was just a figure of speech, but the cards told her all she needed to know right now. She drew another card. Arrow. If she played these cards right, then she could have a chance to win the fight.

But there was something she didn't know yet. "How do we decide the winner?"

Seraph smiled. "We fight until one of us runs out of cards, or our life points reach zero."

"Hoe? Life points?" Sakura was confused, but then saw something besides her. "Four thousands..." She looked at her cards. She could see some numbers over their name now, which she knew were the value of their attack and defense. "So, we attack each other until one of us has zero points. I get it."

"Good, so what are you going to do?"

"I'll set this card," Sakura said, and picked up Mirror. As she did, her card turned into a far larger version of itself, and moved to the first square to her left. "And since I won't be able to attack unless I get that monster out of the way, I'll summon Bubbles in attack position and attack your face-down monster."

Seraph smiled as Bubbles attacked and her Mystic Elf was flipped. "Too bad, your card only has one point four thousand attack, but my Mystic Elf has two thousand defense points. You get six hundred points of damage for your gamble."

Sakura winced as she felt a sharp pain run through her body. "What... Damn, that hurt."

"Yes, unlike the childish games played by others, our duels have a risk. As you take damage to your life points, you'll take damage yourself. It's a way our leader has to motivate us to improve our skills."

"Wait, if her points go down to zero..." Syaoran guessed.

Seraph laughed at that. "Oh, I can see your worry, but no. If she died, then my whole mission would be a failure. My leader needs her alive."

"And your leader is..." Sakura asked, still a bit numb from the pain.

"My leader is someone who doesn't like his name revealed to those not in our ranks," Seraph said. "Now, shall we continue?"

"I end my turn," Sakura said. It was kind of silly to voice out things she was about to do, but she was just imitating the woman's actions thus far, and trying to figure out what she could do to make her victory certain.

_'Sometimes, attacking isn't the only way.'_

She smiled. Yes, her cards were right. She didn't need to be on the offense all the time, in fact she had already set something that would make her foe hurt herself if she attacked.

Seraph drew another card and smiled. "Good, this one will help me. But first, I activate Jar of Greed. This card allows me to draw one more card." She did just that, and nodded. "Okay, now I summon my Axe Raider and attack your bubbly girl."

Sakura smiled. "Not yet. I activate Mirror. This card reflects your attack back, destroying your monster, and dealing its attack points as damage to you." She was, so far, just repeating what her cards 'told' her, but for some reason, the cards seemed to know a lot about the game. It was quite strange, and she would have to ask Kero about it later, after she was done with this 'fight.'

Seraph flinched as she was hit by an unseen force. "You're a fast learner, kid. Okay then, I set two cards down, and that's it for my turn." Those two cards would make any attempt from her foe to attack her a failure, so she knew she only had to draw a good card next turn to win.

Sakura drew a card as her turn started. Shot, a card that was just what she needed to get the advantage. But first off, she had to get rid of those two cards which were surely meant to stop her attacks. "I play Mist, a spell which destroys any trap or spell on your side of the field."

Seraph cursed under her breath. "Nice, but still... Do you have any monster strong enough to get through my Elf?"

"I suppose I don't, but I do have this."

Seraph looked at the card Sakura was showing. "Shot?"

"Yes, it lets me destroy one of your monsters. And, of course, I will destroy your Mystic Elf."

"Oh, isn't that nice..." Seraph growled.

"But that's not all I can do. I'll summon one of my strongest cards, Fire!"

Fire had two thousand attack points, and Seraph knew that meant her own monster was gone.

"I attack your Axe Raide with Fire."

Fire attacked Seraph card with an all-too-real wave of flames, and the Axe Raider vanished, leaving her to be hit by the flames.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked as Seraph staggered back.

Seraph glared at her. "I told you we train for this, kid, so don't give me your pity. You still have one more creature to use, don't you?"

Sakura nodded. "Right. Bubbles, hit her!"

Despite the attack being only bubbles, Seraph still winced as they exploded around her. "Damn it, I'm not done for yet, kid!" True, she had six hundred life points left, and she was confident she could turn the duel around next turn. She had the right card for that, actually.

"I guess it's your turn now," Sakura said.

"These battles look like they're fun," Tomoyo noted.

"But they're not fighting just for fun," Syaoran said, "I have to admit, though, that I cannot understand how Sakura's cards can be used in a duel."

"That's because Clow knew about these duels."

Syaoran and Tomoyo both turned to see Yue and Kerberos flying to them. "You two are late."

"I couldn't find a place to change to my true form," Yue explained. "But I'm glad to see Sakura has everything under control."

Seraph frowned. "Okay, it's time for me to show you what a real strategy looks like. First off, I activate Raigeki, which sends all your monsters to the graveyard."

"That doesn't look good," Kerberos noted.

"Think I should get that woman?"

"Don't," Yue said, giving Syaoran a meaningful stare. "If any outsider interrupts a duel, then whoever they are allied with loses. "

"That's right," Seraph said, "you can only watch, so be quiet." She turned to Sakura and smiled. "I'll summon my Beaver Warrior and attack you directly, to return the favor."

Sakura fell to her knees as the creature stabbed her. It didn't hurt as much as a real sword stab would, but it was still quite painful. "This is..."

"If it's too much for you, you can give up," Seraph said.

"I'm not going to give up when I can still win," Sakura countered, slowly standing up.

"Hmph, I'll end my turn, then. Let's see what you can do now."

Sakura looked at her hand. Shield was useless right now, and Wood was not enough to defeat Seraph. It all came down to the card she was about to draw. As she drew it and looked at it, however, she smiled. "I don't have a strategy to win, since I barely know the rules of this game," she said, "but what I do have is luck, and luck isn't something you should ignore. I'll play Return, which will cost me a thousand life points."

Seraph chuckled. "Girl, are you so desperate to lose?"

"You didn't let me finish my explanation. Return lets me summon up to five monsters from my graveyard. And I summon Fire and Bubbles, and put another monster face-down just in case."

Just in case? Seraph growled at her. "Go ahead."

"Are you sure? You'll get hurt." Sakura asked.

"Stop that!" Seraph snapped. "I may have failed, but it would be worse for me if I gave up before the duel was over."

Sakura sighed. "Right, then... Fire, destroy her warrior. Bubbles, attack her directly."

After the attacks ended, the field wavered and vanished, as did the monsters on the field. Seraph fell to her knees and growled. "I failed. You win this one, Kinomoto, but there will be others like me, and we won't stop until you're one of us."

Sakura was about to say something, but Seraph simply vanished. "There will be others like her..." she repeated.

"Then we should learn how to fight back," Syaoran said.

"We?" Sakura asked.

"Of course," Syaoran said, "If I can't protect you with my magic, then I'll just get cards like those and learn how to play."

"I've heard that a very famous duelist lives in that new shop..."

"You mean the game shop?" Sakura asked. "My brother works there."

Syaoran nodded. "If that man is good at this game, then he could teach us."

"I guess we could try that," Sakura said. Though she knew she couldn't tell that man why she wanted to learn, since he wouldn't believe it easily.

* * *

Yugi Motou wasn't the average duelist, and he was used to be challenged in the middle of the street, since everyone wanted to test their skills against the current world champion. And he didn't mind accepting duels, either, since he liked the game, and gave his best even against the most unskilled opponents.

But it had been a while since he was last challenged to a duel like this, a duel against someone who wasn't just an average duelist, either, but someone with an evil intent.

"So, you said your name was Orion, right?" Yugi asked. "I suppose you do know that I'm not an easy target."

"Yes, I know about your reputation," Orion noted. He looked at the field and added, "and I can see it wasn't just an urban legend."

Yugi wasn't too worried about this duel, it was pretty obvious from the start that this man had strategies based mainly around traps and spells, and Yugi knew how to minimize their damage. Also, this Orion treated his cards just as tools for his mission, that much was evident from the way he played. And such a person would never be able to defeat the King of Duels himself.

He smiled to himself. If the Pharaoh was still here, he would lecture him on not growing overconfident and letting his guard down. And he would be right, Yugi realized. He couldn't let his guard down, he could lose, too, and he knew it. But he would make sure that didn't happen against this one opponent.

* * *

**A/N:** For those who already read Summoner Wars, this story is a different take on that plot. The main difference is that this one will be set after both shows' ending, unlike the previous version, which was set right after Waking the Dragons for Yu-Gi-Oh.

As for what other differences it will have, well, it wouldn't be good if I ruined the surprise.

* * *

**_Disclaimer:_** I own neither Card Captor Sakura nor Yu-Gi-Oh, I'm just using the characters of those shows for my own plot.


	2. Enter the king

**The Witch and the King**

**A Card Captor Sakura/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover**

**Episode 2: Enter the king.**

_By Razor Knight_

_Last update: April 26, 2009_

* * *

Sakura and the others were on their way to the shop, but there was something she wanted to ask her guardians, and she finally decided to do it before they reached their destination. "Kero, how is it that my cards can be used in duels?"

Kero smiled and looked around. One of the tricks Sakura had learnt as she grew stronger, was the spell Eriol had used on her several times, one that let no civilians be near them when something unnatural happened. It was nothing harmful, but any civilian coming too close to wherever the spell was cast would instinctively want to take a longer route around the area affected by it.

And Sakura had, in the past, cast such spell with herself as the focus point, just like now. It was useful when she wanted to speak to her guardians without having to worry about being overheard. Still, Kerberos had returned to his fake form, and so had Yue. It was an old habit they couldn't get rid of easily. Besides, anyone with magic would be able to break through that spell and see them.

Kero decided to tell all he knew about this. "Clow had many books of legends and magic, and he learnt of many powerful mages that existed in the past. There was a book which contained a legend from Egypt, of a sort of game which was used to decide wars, using magical creatures locked inside large monoliths."

"That sounds like what Yamazaki was ranting about at school," Tomoyo noted.

"Maybe for once, he wasn't making it up," Syaoran admitted.

"Clow decided to give his cards the chance to fight against those monsters, making them able to adapt to the rules of that ancient game, in order to be useable in such battles," Kero continued, "but fortunately, those legends never came true."

"Seeing today's battle," Yukito commented, "I think those legends are becoming true now."

"Didn't some of her cards look familiar to you?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes, they did," Sakura admitted, "I remember fighting something like that Axe Raider a few years ago."

It wasn't strange for Sakura to have to fight monsters. It didn't happen that often, but it did happen, and she remembered now what had happened then. From what she could recall, monsters had appeared all around the world, though many still believed it to be just a publicity stunt or a trick of the eye. Sakura knew better, she had to fight a few of those monsters herself, including a large, white dragon that had been quite close to biting her arm off.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but back then, the monsters had been gone before she could figure out where they were coming from. They hadn't showed up again, so she had supposed they were gone for good. Maybe someone was doing large scale 'duels' all around the world that one time?

"Well, I guess we're here."

Syaoran was right, they were standing in front of a store, and she could see cards like the ones she had seen Seraph holding on display inside. "Let's see what we find in there."

* * *

Touya's day had been rather calm, and he couldn't really complain. The owner had gone out minutes before, 'to check on something' (he wondered just what, but didn't ask,) and he had not seen a single customer walk in since then. Actually, he had only seen two customers inside today, which was rather unusual, considering the shop's popularity.

So when he saw several people walk in, he looked at them curiously. Immediately recognizing them, he shrugged and returned to the cards he was examining. "What are you doing here, Sakura?"

"We heard about a man who lives here, and is a good duelist," Sakura said.

"The boss sure is good," Touya admitted, "but his grandson's the current world champion. But why the sudden interest in this game?"

"I was challenged by someone who used the same kind of cards you're holding," Sakura explained, "only she used some kind of magic to make her cards turn into magical constructs, and their attacks were quite real."

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Sakura said, "I defeated that woman, but she said there are more like her, so..."

Something crossed Touya's mind. "Wait, how did you defeat her?"

"With my own cards," Sakura said, "strange as it sounds, they can be used for duels."

"Where's that champion, anyhow?" Syaoran asked, then froze. He and Sakura both turned to the door, in time to see a boy around their age walk in. There were two things that he could notice about the newcomer. One was that he had a fair deal of magic power, and the second was his hair. It somehow rose up in spikes, defying all laws of gravity and logic, and was colored black, blonde and red, defying all laws of genetics. And if he dyed his hair like that, then he was a bit on the insane side.

"That would be me," the boy said, looking at everyone in turns. Kero was doing his usual stuffed toy number, but Yugi didn't seem to buy it even for a second. "You don't look at all like Orion, so what are you here for?"

"Uhm, we..." Sakura started, then frowned. "Hoe? Who's Orion?"

"A man who just challenged me," the boy explained. "By the way, I'm Yugi Motou."

"I'm Sakura Kinomoto, nice to meet you," Sakura said, "so that man challenged you... Just like Seraph."

"I take it you're an experienced duelist, then," Yugi guessed.

"No, today was my first fight, I was never a fan of this game."

Yugi was surprised by that. "Then they're desperate."

Sakura shook her head. "I have cards I guess you could consider rare, since I'm the only one who has them. Maybe that's what they're after."

Yugi nodded at that. "Most likely." His mind had registered the bit about 'rare cards' and was gnawing on it eagerly, so he really had no choice but to ask. "May I see your cards?"

"Uhm..."

Kero floated up from Sakura's pocket. "I don't know if we can really trust this guy. He's got magic of his own, he could be dangerous."

Yugi looked at Kero for a second before smiling. "Thought so. Is that one of your cards?"

Sakura blinked at that. "No, he's one of my guardians... And I apologize for his rudeness."

Yugi smiled. "No need for that, though I'm not sure about the 'magic' you speak of."

Yukito transformed into his true self, and looked at Yugi with his usual unemotional face. "You've got some magic in you, boy, whether you realize it or not. Those with magic powers seem to attract trouble to them, so I suppose you've seen your share of unbelievable things already. Otherwise, your reaction to Kerberos would have been different."

"Kerberos?" Yugi asked, then saw the 'stuffed toy' transform into a large winged lion. "I have to admit this _is_ a new one for me."

Sakura smiled. "They are Kerberos and Yue, the guardians of my cards."

Touya frowned. "You're using that spell again, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Sakura said. "Motou, I would like to learn how to duel."

"I suppose I can teach you," Yugi said, "but please, call me Yugi."

"Then call me Sakura, all my friends do," Sakura said. She noticed Syaoran giving Yugi his trademark glare, but Yugi either didn't notice, or ignored it.

"My, my, the shop's crowded."

Sakura looked at the door, and saw a man had just walked in. "Hoe? How did you get here?"

"What you mean 'how I got here'?" the man asked, "I own this place."

Sakura noticed the man's hairdo was quite similar to Yugi, except this man's hair was uniformly grey. Maybe it was in the genes, after all. "Uhm, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." But she was quite shocked, this man didn't seem to have any trace of magic in him, so why had he been able to break through her spell?

"Since I can see some unfamiliar cards are with you, then I suppose you're here to challenge my grandson."

Cards? How did he know? Sakura realized the man wasn't talking about her cards, but her two guardians. "Uhm, no, they are not cards, they are..."

"No need to explain," the man said, "after all, I'm not planning on joining you guys, I already told Astra that."

"Astra?" Sakura repeated. "Oh, no, we're not like them. I'm here because I was challenged too, but I don't know much about duels."

"Strange, I thought only the elite would be challenged."

Yugi snorted at that. "You were challenged, weren't you?"

The man gave him a short glare, then laughed. "I suppose the Pharaoh's sarcasm did pass on to you."

"Pharaoh?" Yue asked.

"Long story, and you wouldn't believe it," Yugi said.

"I'm a magic spirit created by a wizard who lived many centuries ago, I think there's little I could be skeptical about," Yue noted.

"Well, to make a long story short, I was, until last year, a host for the spirit of a dead Pharaoh. He helped me as much as I helped him, but he's gone now."

"If he was a Pharaoh, then he had something to do with those cards," Tomoyo guessed.

"I helped him seal some artifacts that could be used to control the card spirits, and to turn the tide of battles on the user's favor. But now I know there are other ways to bring forth those spirits. Orion used the cards' spirits, not just holograms."

"Same with Astra," the old man agreed.

Yugi looked at Sakura (prompting another glare from Syaoran,) and then sighed. "Okay, I don't get it. If those two were created by a wizard centuries ago, and you say they're your guardians, then... You're that wizard?"

"No," Sakura said, "but I accidentally released the cards and had to seal them. After that, I became the mistress of the cards."

"I guess we've got something in common, then," Yugi admitted. "I'd like to have a duel with you, Sakura."

"Uhm, but I'm just a newbie..."

"True, but I want to see what cards you have. It'll be just for fun, don't worry."

"I guess..." Sakura smiled. "Okay, I'll give it a try."

As everyone left the room, Yugi lagged behind. Syaoran looked at him and frowned. Yugi looked at Syaoran with a smile. "You shouldn't glare so much, it makes you look like an old man."

"Why you..."

"I can guess Sakura and you are a couple," Yugi said, "so don't worry, I'm not interested in her that way, just intrigued by her cards."

"That's... Good to know," Syaoran said. "Sorry, I guess I did get a bit jealous."

"It's okay," Yugi said, "I didn't hear your name, did I?"

"Syaoran Li."

"Well, then, let's not keep Sakura waiting, Syaoran."

Syaoran took a few seconds to realize Yugi was walking out of the store as well, and followed him. Maybe not only Tomoyo could read people that easily... Or maybe he had been a bit too obvious about it.

* * *

On his way out, Syaoran saw Yugi attaching a scythe-like artifact to his wrist. "What's that for?"

"It's what I use for duels," Yugi explained, "a duel disc."

Sakura looked around. "You mean we're going to fight out here?"

"I want to see what your cards can do."

"But if I use them like I always do, I could hurt you."

"Don't worry, I've been hit by some dangerous creatures in the past, I'm sure I can stand a few blasts from your cards."

"Why duel in the open, anyhow?" Touya asked.

"Yugi knows I don't like my shops getting wrecked," Motou said.

"Aww, too bad I didn't bring my cammera," Tomoyo complained, "it's been a while since I was able to film Sakura's battles."

Sakura laughed nervously at that. Some things didn't change, she was just glad Tomoyo wasn't wearing her in frilly, showy outfits anymore. "Okay, so..."

"Strange, there's nobody around," Yugi commented.

"That's thanks to me," Sakura said.

"Then you can stop whatever you're doing," Yugi said, "I am used to having a crowd gather when I duel." He was surprised, though, to know that this girl was apparently a witch... A magician.

"Guess you two will have to return to your other form," Sakura said to Yue and Kerberos."

"Actually..." Kerberos said, then looked at Yue. "Should we?"

"If this boy is as good as we heard, then Sakura will need our help," Yue noted.

"Hoe? What are you two talking about?" Sakura asked, then saw Kerberos and Yue vanish. "Hey, where are..." She fished into her pocket and took out two cards. The cards had her two guardians drawn on them, and she could feel their presence in them, too. "Kerberos and Yue cards?"

"Didn't know they could do that," Syaoran admitted.

Sakura reached out her other hand, and the rest of her cards appeared in it. It was another trick she had learnt, as she couldn't always bring her cards along. "I'm ready to duel."

Yugi looked at the cards. The pattern on their back was different to what he was used to, with the drawing of a star, with a small sun and moon around it. The pink coloring didn't bother him at all, but he could think of a certain millionaire who would be laughing at the girly cards. There was something else he noticed, however. "How many cards do you have?"

"Fifty-three. Fifty-five counting my guardians. Why?"

"That may be too many cards. The official rules let you choose anything from forty to sixty cards, but I myself find it risky to play with anything more than forty."

"Why?"

"The more cards you have, the harder it is to get the right one," Touya explained. "In your case, that is a greater problem, since you only have one of each card."

"I see..." Sakura concentrated for a few seconds, and several cards flew off her hand, and vanished. "I'm ready now."

Yugi nodded then reached out his hand, offering his deck to Sakura. Seeing her confused face, he smirked. "Before starting the duel, we should shuffle each other's cards."

"I see..." Why didn't Seraph do the same? Maybe because she had her cards set to come out in a certain order. Not that it had helped her much.

After the shuffling was done, Yugi walked to about half a block away, and smiled. "This isn't magic, but still works." He put his cards in a small hole in the 'duel disc,' and the area between Sakura and him lit up.

"Hoe? I sense no magic in this field."

"That's because it's a hologram," Yugi explained, "I don't use my 'magic,' as you called it, in normal duels."

"This isn't normal," Sakura noted, "and it wouldn't be fair if only you got hurt."

"Guess you're right," Yugi smiled and took a few seconds to think about it. "Then, I suppose I can do it too."

"Be careful, Sakura," Syaoran warned.

"It'll be okay," Sakura said.

Tomoyo looked around. While they talked, several people had gathered around them. "Wow, Yugi must be quite popular..."

"Ladies first," Yugi said.

Sakura nodded and looked at her hand. Shield, Sword, Freeze, Jump and Windy. She drew Twin, and realized she could use several of the cards she had to get a good start. But for now, it was better to wait and see. "I set a monster face-down, and end my turn." It was Windy, and she was hoping Yugi would attack it, as it had an useful skill.

"You want me to attack that card, I'm guessing," Yugi said as he looked at his own hand. Quite good for a starter hand, and he knew what to do in case Sakura's monster had an effect. "I set a card down, and summon Gemini Elf."

"Hey, who's Yugi beating up this time around?"

Syaoran looked to the side and saw a couple boys and a girl around his age. Fans of Motou, perhaps? He turned his attention back to the duel and saw Sakura was smiling, which meant she had something planned already.

Yugi looked at the face-down monster. "I'll have to risk this. Gemini Elf, attack her monster!"

Sakura nodded. "Thanks. You attacked my Windy, and as you can see, it has no defense points. But her effect is that, when attacked in face-down position, the monster attacking her becomes bound." As she said that, transparent chains appeared and wrapped around the two elves. "Also, she's not destroyed by any monster when in that position."

"Not bad," Yugi admitted, "if all your cards are like that one, then I think I'll enjoy this battle." And as usual, he had a backup plan, one he was sure Sakura would fall for. "Your turn."

Sakura took a few moments to 'listen' to her cards. She then drew another one. Hope? This one was the second card she had 'created,' and one part of it was the last Clow Card she had ever captured. She also knew this card was very useful in a duel, but its usefulness came with some risks. "I suppose I should start attacking. Fist, I'll change my Windy to attack position."

"That thing's not strong enough to beat Yugi's monster," the brown-haired guy near Syaoran said.

"She's still got a magic card there," the blond guy noted, "what you think, Anzu?"

The girl sighed. "I think you two should stop guessing and watch the duel."

Sakura was still thinking about her strategy. If she brought her good cards in too soon, she could fall for whatever trick the face-down card Yugi had on his side would pull. So, instead, she chose to use the cards she had on the field. "First off, I set a monster face-down, and then I activate Twins. This card can, once per turn, copy any monster on the field. But the catch is, I must pay five hundred life points to activate it."

Yugi could guess what was next. "You're going to copy my Gemini Elf, right?"

"Of course," a replica of the two elves appeared on Sakura's side. "And I attack your monster with mine, which means both are destroyed."

Yugi smiled at that. "And it's just what I was waiting for. By destroying my monster, Michizure is activated. This card can destroy any monster on the field, so your Windy is gone."

Sakura flinched. "I suppose it won't be easy to win."

"Win?" the blond chuckled. "A newbie won't beat Yugi, strange cards or not."

Syaoran frowned. That guy was really pushing it. Maybe he should toss a spell at him while he was distracted, to make him shut up?

"Easy wins aren't fun at all," Yugi said. "Besides, I want to see what your cards can do, so... I guess I'm going to play defensive for now. I set a monster face-down, and two face-down cards, and end my turn."

Watery. It was a pity, but she had to play this one in defense position. "I set a card and end my turn."

That caused a wave of murmurs from the crowd, which Yugi decided to silence fast. "If you really want me to attack, then I will have to..." he drew a card and smiled. "... Call one of my best monsters forth. I sacrifice my face-down monster to summon my Summoned Skull. Go, attack her monster!"

Sakura sighed. Watery wasn't strong enough to stop that attack, so she was once again left with no monsters on her side. It was time to show Yugi what she had been saving as a last resort.

"Your turn."

Sakura nodded. "Since you're going all out, I think I should do the same." She drew a card. Power. Not much could be done with it right now, so she would have to save it for later. "I'll play my Hope card."

Syaoran smiled at that. "Bet this will be good."

Tomoyo nodded. "That card is... From that time?"

"Yes. But I wonder what it can do, since Clow didn't create it."

Sakura wasn't listening to the crowd, but still cleared Syaoran's doubts with her next movement. "Hope allows me to bring forth a fusion of cards, but the thing is..." She walked forwards, standing in the first 'square' of her side that was reserved for monsters. "... They fuse with me. I activate Hope, Shield and Sword, and summon the Knight!"

Sakura's outfit changed to a suit of light armor, and her sword and shield appeared in her hands. As Hope remained floating above her, she smiled. "Hope can be used again, for a price. I send one of the cards in my hand, so Hope can be returned to my deck." Sakura shuffled the deck and smiled. "Now, my Knight has the same attack points as your monster, so it would be a waste to attack you right now. Instead, I use Twin to copy my Knight!" Another Sakura appeared besides her, and her life points went down again, to three thousands. "Now, attack his creature!"

Yugi was quite impressed by Sakura's last move. It wasn't the first time he saw cards that fused with their user, but something about this 'Knight' seemed different.

Syaoran looked to his side, and saw Tomoyo was staring at Sakura. He shook his head at that, some things would never change. He turned back to the duel, in time to see the 'clone' of Sakura running to the demon-like creature.

"I'm sorry, but that won't work. I activate Magic Cylinder, which turns your attack against you."

Sakura gasped as her clone turned around in mid-run and slashed at her. The attack caused her to fall to her knees. "That was..." Her life points dropped to five hundred, which put her in quite a dire situation.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" Syaoran asked, worried.

Sakura stood up. "Yes, and I still have a chance to..." She stopped. Using her Knight's effect would mean losing the match, and Yugi still had another face-down card to play. "I guess I'll have to attack myself. Here goes nothing!"

Yugi rose his hand in a 'stop' motion. "I'm sorry, but that won't happen. I play Negate Attack, which stops you from destroying my Summoned Skull, and ends your battle phase."

Sakura was stopped by an unseen barrier, and sighed. "Okay, I guess I'll have to wait for the next turn."

Yugi drew a card and smiled. "I'm sorry, but there won't be a next turn. I play Dark Hole, which destroys all the monsters on the field."

"He destroyed his own monster to get rid of Sakura's two Knights. Smart."

Sakura was knocked out of the field by an invisible force, and her double vanished. "This looks bad." "But my monster won't be gone for long. I play Monster Reborn, bringing my Summoned Skull back. Now, attack her directly!"

Sakura staggered back as the monster attacked her. "You won."

Yugi nodded. "Are you okay?"

Sakura stood up and smiled. "Yes, and that was a surprise. I had no idea duels coudl be so complicated."

"If not for me getting the right cards at the right time," Yugi admitted, "that stunt with the two Knights would have been bad for me."

"Hey, Yugi!"

Yugi turned to see his friends were there. "Hi guys, didn't see you were here already."

"Yeah, you forget about everything else when a duel's good," Anzu noted.

"This girl is Sakura Kinomoto," Yugi said as Sakura walked to him, "as you may have noticed, her cards are quite different."

"Yeah, that brought back memories," Jou admitted. "Is that Knight the only fusion you have?"

Sakura shook her head. "There's several more, but I need the right cards to summon them."

"Guys, there's a group of shady duelists around, they tried to get me to join their ranks, and did the same with grandpa and Sakura. They're apparently looking for good duelists, so you should be careful."

"Yeah, Anzu and me will be careful," Jou said.

Honda nodded, "yeah, we will..." He then put Jou in a headlock. "What do you mean 'Anzu and me' you moron?"

Yugi laughed at that. "I'll teach you how to play, Sakura, but I need to know what your cards can do."

"I guess you could teach me by dueling," Sakura said, "but let's not duel like this again, I'd rather not be slashed if I can help it."

The crowd had mostly left after the duel ended, but two figures were watching the group of teenagers from a distance. "So she's the one, huh?"

The other figure nodded. "She doesn't look that strong. We'll be done before she knows what happened."

* * *

**A/N:** I don't think even newbie's luck could help Sakura against Yugi, frankly. Still, she could use the first of her fusions, so it was worth to have her lose.

_Fickle Luck:_ Writing down the duels is quite fun, actually, and I plan them out before I sit down to write the episode itself. Even if I can't see the cards while I do this, I have a quite long list of Yugioh's cards, and I also wrote a list of all the Sakura Cards and what their effects are.

Of course, I'm not going to put that up, since it'd ruin the fun of finding out what each card does as Sakura plays them.


	3. The newcomers

**The Witch and the King**

**A Card Captor Sakura/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover**

**Episode 3: The newcomers.**

_By Razor Knight_

_Last update: May 18, 2009_

* * *

Yugi had been teaching Sakura the rules and tricks of dueling for three days, and he knew she was good enough to face several duelists he knew personally and win. Problem here was, he wasn't sure what new tricks the evil duelists had, so he couldn't prepare her for them. Because it was a given, any of those gangs of villains would have new cards, which often bent several rules of the game so much it was a wonder they didn't break.

"So, Yugi, can you summon those card spirits yourself?"

He looked at Sakura and thought about it for a moment. "There's been times when I was able to summon some of the cards outside the holograms. But I always thought that was due to external factors. My enemies always seemed to be able to use magic tricks of some sort. "

"I can sense you have magic, a different kind than mine, but the energy's there."

Yugi nodded. "Maybe it's the Pharaoh's influence, even though he's not here anymore."

Sakura had heard him speak of the Pharaoh, or Atem as she had learnt his name was, and to her, his voice sounded sad, if only slightly. "Maybe you had that magic inside since you were born, and the Pharaoh was the trigger for it to become useable by you."

Syaoran had been listening to them and smiled. "Sakura, why don't you show him what you can do?"

"He's already seen me summon my cards."

"Yes, but what about his cards?"

Sakura frowned at that. "I'm not sure I can do that, but..."

Yugi put a card on the table and smiled. "Try this one, he's one of my favorites."

Syaoran saw the card and smiled. "Kuriboh?"

Sakura put a hand on the card and concentrated for a few seconds. "Spirit of the card, heed my call and appear in this world."

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but just as Yugi was about to ask if anything had gone wrong, Kuriboh appeared floating right above the card. "Amazing."

"Maybe I can teach you to do that, since you're teaching me how to duel."

"That thing's cute."

The three turned to see Tomoyo, who had just walked into the shop, and was holding Kero in her arms, who was playing the usual stuffed animal routine.

"Tomoyo, what's up?"

"He wanted to speak with you," Tomoyo noted as Kero floated up.

"Sakura, I sensed a strange aura near your house today. Maybe those duelists found out where you live."

Tomoyo was petting the Kuriboh, which purred like a cat. Sakura laughed at the scene, then turned to Kero. "I guess it was a matter of time before they returned."

Yugi put another card on the table, and put a hand on it, concentrating for several seconds before shaking his head. "I don't know how you do it, Sakura."

Sakura put a hand on the Kuriboh card, and the creature vanished. She then sighed. "Problem is, I don't know how magic works, just that it _works_ for me."

Kero stood on Yugi's shoulder. "Try to feel the magic around you. You're probably used to it by now, so it should be easy to feel it, but hard to identify it."

Yugi focused again, in the card, and tried to remember all those duels where monsters had appeared before him without the need of holograms. The sensations he felt when looking at the creatures, and what he had felt as he summoned them. "Maybe this is..."

Syaoran smiled as a tall rat-like knight appeared. "Nice, you found your magic."

"It's easier than I thought," Yugi admitted.

"It should be, Sakura was doing it when she was ten."

"And I've been training since then," Sakura noted, then mentally summoned several of her cards.

Tomoyo's eyes widened. "Wow, didn't know you could call so many of them." Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Ice, Shadow... There were at least a dozen spirits around Sakura right now, and from what she knew of her cards, they were all the strongest ones.

"I can call this many, but depending on how many I use at a time, the time I can keep them up gets shorter." The spirits vanished, and Sakura looked around. "Kero, about that aura you were feeling? I can feel it. It's near."

"Me too," Kero admitted, "what should we do?"

"If they want a duel, then I will face them," Yugi said.

"No, this aura isn't the same Seraph had. These are different."

"These?" Yugi asked.

"There's more than one presence out there," Sakura explained, then turned to Tomoyo. "You should stay here."

"And miss one of your battles? No way."

"Right, but stay out of trouble."

"I always do, Sakura. Besides, I've got you to protect me, right?"

Sakura giggled nervously at that. "Right."

* * *

Yugi didn't really know where they were heading, but from what he understood, Sakura and Syaoran had a 'magic sense' which let her know when someone with magic powers was near them. As they reached a construction site, however, he could see their sense was quite good.

Two figures stood there, looking at the group in an almost condescending way. The female figure sighed. "So this is the new Mistress of the Clow cards? She looks rather weak."

The male one nodded at that. "Yes, with a magic as weak as that, it's a wonder she can keep even the most basic cards in check."

Syaoran was about to say something, when he noticed what Sakura was doing. She was cloaking her magic, a trick Eriol had used (and taught her, later on,) and which made it nearly impossible for other mages to detect her. Right now, however, she was letting a bit of her magic flow, and he knew it had worked, from what the two figures were saying.

And he knew those two, Fang and Fei Li, two strong magicians from his clan. What he didn't really know, is what the two were doing here.

"I assume you were looking for me," Sakura said. "I don't know what you want from me, but I'm not sensing any evil in you."

"That's right," the woman said. The two figures seemed older than Sakura and the others, most likely in their early twenties, and both were wearing plain clothes. By now, Sakura and her friends were too used to see mages wearing strange robes and carrying around staves. "We came here with the intention of testing the new Mistress of Clow, but seeing how weak you are, there's no point in testing you. "

Sakura smiled at her. "I suppose I should let you see my real magic, then." With a mental command, she removed the spell cloaking her magic. From the faces of her two foes, she knew they had changed their opinion.

The man flinched but then laughed. "Now this is more like how a real mage should look."

"This will be interesting," the woman said, "I think we should test her and see if her powers are up to the task at hand."

Yugi saw a monster appear behind the two. Its shape was that of a bat, but it was, as far as he could see, made entirely of flames. "What are they up to?"

Sakura turned to her friends. "Stand back, I'll take care of this. "

Syaoran shook his head at that. "I'm not going to just stand here and watch you fight."

The woman smiled at him, but it wasn't a mocking smile. "I understand your worries, Li, but we have to test her. We won't hurt her... If she's a worthy heir of Clow's power."

"Then everything's going to be okay," Sakura said. "Defeat that creature, Watery!"

The water spirit appeared, and the fire bat attacked it. The spirit dug into the ground, and the bat followed it, but then everyone saw a jet of water coming out of the hole, and Watery was the only thing that came out of it after that was done.

"Not bad, Kinomoto," the woman said, almost dismissively. In her mind, however, the woman was quite impressed, this girl was stronger than Clow himself.

"You two should know I wouldn't be by her side if she was weak, Fang," Syaoran noted.

"Hoe?" Sakura turned to Syaoran. "You know these two?"

"They're part of my clan," Syaoran said, "but I thought I told mother not to send anyone here unless I requested it."

"You should know we're bad at following orders, then," Fang admitted. "So, Kinomoto, should we start fighting you for real?"

Sakura realized they weren't expecting an answer, as she saw the two summon several creatures. Half of them were made of flames, while the others were apparently lightning constructs. "I wonder..." She concentrated for a few seconds, and then smiled. "Oh, I should have known I could do this outside duels."

Tomoyo had been about to ask what she meant, but then saw Sakura's suit changing into an armor, with shield and sword in her hands. However, this wasn't like that Knight fusion she had used, the armor was golden, and she had wings.

"She's using Fight and Fly along with the other cards," Syaoran explained, knowing what the others were wondering.

Sakura looked at her two rivals. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Good, then let the real test begin." The summons all attacked Sakura as one, and she soon realized the battle would be harder than she expected. She got hit several times, only managing to destroy one of the summons, and was apparently close to being defeated.

"Sakura, even if they're not evil, you still have to fight without holding back," Syaoran said.

Why would she be holding back? Yugi didn't quite understand what Syaoran meant at first, but then gasped. Of course, these two weren't evil, so Sakura was afraid to hurt them if she went all out. "Even in a friendly duel, to not give your best is to insult your opponent."

Sakura smiled. "That's true, so I think I'll get serious now." One thing years of experience gave her, was the ability to summon card spirits with just a thought. It made fighting a lot easier to her, and even though at first she wasn't too thrilled about risking her life fighting magic creatures, she had grown used to it, almost to the point of enjoying those fights. Almost.

So, she decided not to bother with the summons, instead sending her four elements against them. She sailed past the creatures as they grappled, and headed straight for Fei. The mage saw this and leapt aside, dodging her first blow, and summoned a staff, which he used to swipe at her. Sakura dodged that by jumping, leaping over the man and landing right behind him. His partner, Fang, saw Sakura wasn't paying attention to her, so she summoned a pair of daggers and rushed at her from behind.

However, Sakura was well aware of Fang's location, and as the woman run, she was knocked to the ground by Windy. Sakura smiled as she stood behind the man, her sword pressing against his back.

"If you had wanted to stab me, you would have done so by now," Fei noticed. He looked at the three elementals now floating in front of him, already done defeating their summons, and smiled. "But I must admit, I didn't think you could control such a large number of summons at a time. You've defeated us both."

Sakura nodded. "I've trained as much as I could to get stronger."

Fang stood up as Windy vanished, along with the other cards. Sakura's suit also returned to plain civilian clothes, and Fang smiled at her. "I see now that we underestimated you, Card Mistress. "

"What are you two here for?" Syaoran asked, walking to the two, "and why shouldn't I just kick your asses back to China right away?"

"Because something big's approaching, something we're not sure even this new Card Mistress can handle."

"But that's not something we should be discussing out here in the open."

Sakura laughed at that. "Don't worry about that, nobody's going to get near unless I want them to."

Fang stared at Sakura in shock. "You mean you can use the magic field?"

"Magic field?" Sakura repeated.

Syaoran nodded. "It's what our clan calls your skill, Sakura." He then turned to the other two. "Her field may be stronger than even Clow's one, so we're safe from non-magical beings... As for mages or their summons, Sakura and I can sense them."

"So, what exactly is this 'big' enemy you spoke of?" Sakura asked.

* * *

Several miles away from there, a card duel was about to end. For one of the two duelists, this duel had been almost too easy to enjoy. It was a real pity, too, that some people didn't recognize him for what he was nowadays. He might not be the King of Duels, or even second-best (damn that Kaiba guy,) but being the third ranked duelist in the world wasn't something to shrug off at.

"Jinzo, finish this fight!"

The man on the other side of the duel field looked down to the ground. "I see, you are a strong warrior, Katsuya."

Jou laughed "you're not that bad yourself, Zeus, but not good enough to defeat me."

"There's others out there, and they will come after you."

"Hmph. Save me your rants, I have more important things to do right now," Jou said and walked away, not even bothering to wait for a reply.

* * *

Sakura and the others were still talking, though they had moved back inside the shop. Fei and Fang were telling the others what they knew about their current enemy.

"Someone is trying to summon a very strong card spirit, one that was sealed centuries ago. Nobody knows where the card in question might be, but that's the real reson for this group's targeting of strong duelists. They believe one of them may have the card they're looking for."

"Hmph. I don't have whatever card they want," Sakura noted.

"We're aware of that, and I'm sure our enemy is also conscious of this fact. However, there's something else our enemy wants from you. "

"What's the enemy's real face?" Kero asked.

"A man called Makoto Suzaku," Fei said.

"Suzaku?" Yukito said then winced. "I see... There was a Suzaku in the past."

"You don't remember her?" Fang asked.

"Our memories of those times are a bit blurry, most likely thanks to Clow himself messing around with them," Kero explained.

"I see. Truth is, Suzaku was a very strong magician from Japan, who was, some say, in love with Clow. Clow never returned her feelings, so she decided to create her own set of cards. From what we know, she thought defeating Clow in a fair fight would show him how strong she was, and she hoped that would get him to love her."

"So, what happened?" Yugi asked, he was curious about this Suzaku person's story.

"Suzaku had created several strong cards, but there was one which surpassed every card Clow ever created. She named it Suzaku's Soul, and was rumored to be able to destroy whole villages in a matter of minutes. She had never used it, however, until the day she faced off against Clow."

"Clow defeated her, I take it?" Syaoran guessed.

"No. The Soul card was too strong, and Clow was close to being killed by it. But just as the Soul was going to give the finishing blow, Suzaku ordered it to stop. The Soul was enraged by this, and attacked its creator, killing her. Suzaku, however, was able to seal the spirit inside the card, and nobody knows exactly what happened to the card afterwards."

"She died protecting the one she loved, even though she wasn't loved by him..." Tomoyo said. "How sad."

"But wait, if she died then, then who is this Makoto?"

"We're not sure," Fang admitted, "but he's got the Suzaku clan's blood, that's for sure. He's fought and defeated several of our clansmen back in China."

Syaoran frowned at that. "So, we might end up fighting some of our own people."

"This Suzaku has strong powers, he can somehow brainwash anyone into becoming his soldier. Even the strongest mages back home weren't able to resist such a power. I'm not sure even Kinomoto could."

"So to sum it up, we must not lose against him or his soldiers."

Fang nodded at Yugi. "That's correct. No offense intended, but your magic powers are rather weak."

"That may be true, but I'm the best duelist in the world."

"Duelist?" Fei said, "you mean that popular card game?"

"That's what they're using to recruit us in this part of the world," Yugi noted, "though if you say they went with direct combat before, then yes, I wouldn't be too skilled on that."

Just then, Jou walked in, noticing the newcomers. "Hey, who are these newbies?"

"Fei and Fang Li, from China," Syaoran explained, "and I wouldn't really call them newbies, they're strong mages."

"Oookay, I getcha. Yugi, I was just challenged by some weirdo calling himself Zeus. I really hope that's not the best they have 'cause if it is, then we're going to have to fight some serious amateurs."

Yugi smiled at that. "Jou, these two persons just told us what we're exactly fighting here. And I doubt what they've sent after us is their best."

"Hmph. Can't be worse than what Dartz, Bakura or Marik threw at us, right?"

"Unfortunately, it might be at the same level than the creatures they used," Yugi noted. It was good he had three of them around.

"Motou!"

Everyone looked out the window as they heard that voice. A woman was out there, and Sakura could feel a magic aura in her. "Guess we've got a new challenger," Jou said. "Want me to take care of her?"

"No, I'll go," Yugi said. Just as he was about to walk out of the shop, he saw the woman fall down to the ground, and another girl right behind her. "Huh? Who is that?"

Syaoran and Sakura both recognized the girl the moment they saw her. "Mei Ling?"

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, it took a while to complete this episode, since I'm working on six different stories right now. Hope it was worth the wait.

_Marie Ravenclaw:_ Your idea's good. The list of all cards Sakura's used in duels until now is here:

http:// razorzknight. livejournal. com/211946 .html (Remove the spaces)

It will be updated as I use new cards in duels.


	4. Suzaku cards

**The Witch and the King**  
**A Card Captor Sakura/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover**  
**Episode 4: Suzaku cards.**  
_By Razor Knight_  
_Last update: June 4, 2009_

* * *

Syaoran was as surprised as the others, he didn't expect to see Mei Ling in Japan. Sure, the girl had gotten over him choosing Sakura instead of her, but she had rarely been in Japan, so they didn't see much of her. As far as he knew, she had been training to become a better fighter, even though she wasn't a bad fighter back when they were kids.

He returned his thoughts to the present as the girl walked in, wearing a suit like the one she had used years ago, which she filled a lot better than before, and smiled at him.

"Uhm, Mei Ling, what are you doing here?"

"Helping," Mei Ling said, then looked at Sakura. "Been a while, Sakura. Is Li being nice to you?"

"Yes," Sakura said.

"Good, because if he wasn't..." Mei Ling stared at Syaoran in a way that told them what she wasn't saying.

"Why did you knock that woman out?"

"She turned two of my friends back home against us, so it was just payback." She muttered something under her breath as she looked out the window. "But I should have tied her up."

Yugi looked out the window and nodded. "She's gone."

"I suppose an introduction is needed. Guys, this is Mei Ling Li, Syaoran's cousin. These are Yugi Motou and Jounoichi Katsuya."

"Nice to meet you," the two guys said.

"Likewise," Mei Ling noted. "So, this is the famous card shop... What are you guys doing here, playing games while the enemy's out there?"

"The enemy's using this card game to fight us," Yugi explained, "though if what I heard from Fang and Fei is correct, then we could also be..."

"From what our sources could gather," Fei interrupted, "Suzaku's magic works better inside these card duels than outside. Maybe he's aware of that, and thus only attacks duelist via duels."

"Then why did that woman Seraph challenge me that way?" Sakura pondered.

"Because he must have observed you, he must know of your powers, and he knows they're more limited within duels," Fang guessed.

"I suppose you're right," Sakura said, "any idea where he is?"

"We haven't been able to locate his lair," Fang admitted, "but we're working on that."

"Good, then we should..."

Anzu walked in right then, and noticed the new faces. "I'll worry about the new people later. Yugi, I was targeted today, by some girl calling herself Aphrodite."

"And you won?" Jou asked.

"You don't have to look so surprised," Anzu muttered. "Think any of our friends were targeted already?"

Jou blinked at that. "Gee, I hope Mai's okay. I would hate having to kick her back to her senses," he stopped then added with a small smile, "again."

"We should all keep our guards up," Yugi noted, "until we know where their boss is."

* * *

"Kinomoto seems to be a worthy descendant of Clow."

"She's just a brat, she doesn't deserve all that power."

"Maybe you're right, and that's why I'm testing her. If my soldiers can defeat her, then she's not fit to use the Clow Cards. If she proves her worth, I'm going to bring her to our side myself."

"Master Suzaku!"

The two first figures turned to the man who had walked in, and he could feel the twin glares from his two leaders. "What is it, Poseidon?" Suzaku finally asked.

"Dryad was defeated by the Chinese fightress. From what the scouts saw, she's friends with Kinomoto."

"If that's the case, she could be trouble. Send someone to deal with her."

The other figure smiled. "I think Minos would love the chance to stretch his legs, right?"

Suzaku nodded at that. "True. Send him along with our other soldier, if that Li girl is around, he should be able to defeat her."

* * *

"And pencils were actually as tall as a tree back then, and the paper they used was..."

Sakura shook her head as Yamazaki was once again silenced by Chiharu. It was good to see that at least her school seemed to be as 'normal' as ever.

Mei Ling walked in and looked around. "I see a lot of familiar faces here."

"Hey, who are you?" Yamazaki asked.

"Don't remember her? She's Mei Ling," Sakura said.

"Eeh? This cute girl here's Li's cousin? I don't remember her being any cute at all."

Mei Ling shook her head at that. "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment, or an insult."

Chiharu smiled. "Welcome back, it's been years since we last saw you around."

"Yeah." Mei Ling looked at Sakura, who shook her head, guessing what the other girl was wondering. "I'll be staying here for a while, mother wanted me to keep an eye on Syaoran."

Syaoran frowned. "That's not..."

Tomoyo giggled at that. "Syaoran's quite the gentleman, I don't think you have any reason to worry."

Mei Ling nodded. "I know, sometimes he can be _too_ nice, and that's what I'm worried about."

Syaoran was now blushing furiously. "Hey now..."

Mei Ling smiled and whispered to his ear, so nobody would hear her. "It's just a lie four your classmates, you know why I'm really here. " Syaoran nodded at her. Mei Ling was still the same, no matter how many years had passed since last time he saw her.

He noticed Sakura was looking out the window, and he knew why. There was someone close to the school building, and they were watching Sakura. He couldn't tell exactly where their stalker was, but from the way Sakura was acting, he could guess she did, even if she couldn't see them with her eyes.

* * *

And whoever it was, it had followed them since they left school. Syaoran didn't even need to ask Sakura if she saw their follower. Even Tomoyo had noticed 'that face' Sakura had when she sensed danger.

Sakura wasn't really in the mood for stalkers, so she decided to call them out. "I know you're there. Come out and face me."

The two who walked out from an alley were tall, yes, but there was one substantial difference. The man to the left was thin to the point where the shape of his bones was noticeable even through his suit, and his pale skin was almost white. The other man, however, was muscular, he seemed strong enough to be a wrestler. "Why did it take you so long to notice us, young one?" the thin one asked.

"I knew you were there from the start, I just wanted to drag you away from the school."

"Hmph, it's fine with me, I'll defeat you no matter what you do."

"What's with that musclehead?" Mei Ling asked.

"I'm just his bodyguard. I'm here in case any of you tries something before the duel starts."

"Too late!" Mei Ling snapped before rushing in. Her speed was amazing, and she was next to the enemy in a split second. However, the muscular man was ready for it, and punched her in the gut, sending her skipping back. "Ugh, what the hell..."

The man chuckled as Mei Ling staggered up. "I'm not just strong, I'm fast too, little girl." He turned to his partner and nodded. "Hades, go ahead."

Hades smiled creepily. "Of course, Minos." He then turned to Sakura. "I challenge you to a duel, young one."

Sakura gave a confident smile as her cards appeared floating next to her, Kerberos and Yue included. "I accept the challenge."

Mei Ling sighed. "I was hoping to stop that creep before he said that." She run to Minos, who got ready to block what he thought would be a high kick. Mei Ling, however, dropped right before reaching him, sweeping her legs out and knocking him down to the ground. "I think I'll keep myself busy here, you guys go ahead and play."

"Need help?" Syaoran asked.

"No, I can beat this one easily," Mei Ling said. "Good luck, Sakura. "

"You too," Sakura said, then turned to Hades. "So, are you ready?"

"Ladies first."

Sakura drew her cards as the duel field appeared between them. Windy, Fly, Hope, Woody, Lock, and the one she drew was Thunder. She had been lucky at drawing Hope so early, she could use it whenever she wanted, but she wanted to see what this man's strategy was. And she knew just what card to use to make him play for real. "I'll set a monster down and end my turn. It was Lock, which was a 'plain' monster, but with a very special detail.

Hades snorted. "I see what I heard was right, you're playing defense. Too bad, because when facing me, defense isn't the best offense. I set two cards down and then summon Zombyra The Dark. His attack is quite high for a four stars, as you can see. The drawback is, it goes down each time he attacks. Not that it will make a difference to you. Zombyra, attack her face-down card!" As the card flipped, however, Hades' smile faded. "Lock?"

"Yes, the lock, and as you can see," Sakura said as Zombyra reeled back after attacking it, "it's much stronger than your monster."

Three thousand defense points. From what Syaoran knew of the card game (mostly what he had picked from what Yugi taught Sakura,) such a card was almost a cheat, considering it didn't require any summon. Still, Sakura had only one card like that, which made it drawing it a difficult thing.

Hades' life points went down to three thousands, one hundred, and he muttered something under his breath before checking on his partner. Things didn't look good for Minos right now, that Li girl was using him as a punching bag. He turned his attention back to the duel and nodded. "Your turn." Sakura drew a card, and almost jumped up in joy. Kerberos, a card she hadn't used in a 'real' duel yet. But summoning it directly would be too risky, so she needed to buy time. And she knew exactly how to do that. "I activate Hope, which lets me fuse with some of my cards. Hence, I'll use Fly and Thunder to become..." She walked into the field, standing next to her Lock, and her suit changed to a white witch cloak, which had clouds and lightning drawn around her waist, and her wand appeared, lightning arching across it. "The Stormcaster."

"She looks so cute..." Tomoyo said, mostly to herself.

"I'm not going to activate Hope's effect this time around, so I'll just end my turn."

Why hadn't Sakura used Hope's effect? If Zombyra attacked, then her Stormcaster was gone, unless... Syaoran smiled at the thought. Yes, Sakura surely had a plan, and her fusion was just the bait.

"Wow, they're not done yet with their duel?" Mei Ling walked back to where Syaoran was, panting. Her hair was a mess, and she had a few bruises, but looking at Minos' prone form meters away, Syaoran could tell she was quite a better fighter than he remembered.

Hades frowned. "Young one, I can tell you're trying to lure me in. But since I'm having fun, I'll humor you. Before I attack, however, I'll have to call a few friends of mine. First off, I activate the card I set a while back, Suzaku's Circle!"

Sakura saw the card was a magic circle, but with a phoenix drawn inside. "Hoe? A Suzaku card?"

"Our great leader entrusted us with these cards. Unlike you, he's made many copies of the original Suzaku cards, so that we mere underlings could share his might. And now, see what this power can do. Circle allows me to special summon a monster to the field from my hand."

"Just like that?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes, just like that, no price to pay for it. Now, come forth, Suzaku's Priestess!"

"Two thousand attack points," Tomoyo noted, "it's a bit stronger than Sakura's form."

"The Suzaku monsters all share one effect, they gain some attack for each Suzaku monster on the field... Including themselves. Priestess gains three hundred attack points for each Suzaku monster." As he said that, the Priestess' attack went up to two thousands, three hundred. "And that's not all, I also can do a normal summon, so I'll bring forth Suzaku's Druid. He also gains three hundred points for each Suzaku monster in play."

Both cards improved in attack, the Druid reaching two point four thousand attack, while the Priestess' attack went up to two point six.

Tomoyo saw Sakura was smiling, and realized what was going on. "He fell for it, I suppose?"

Hades laughed. "Now I'll attack you with my Priestess!"

"That's not possible," Sakura noted. "I'll discard one card from my hand," she said as she put Woody in the graveyard, "to activate Stormcaster's effect. I can end your turn right away."

Hades sighed. "Still playing defense, young one? That's not going to get you anywhere."

Sakura took a look at the card she had just drawn and shook her head. "I suppose you're right, maybe it's time to start my own attack. I play Twin, which lets me copy a monster card each turn, for five hundred life points."

Hades snorted. "Even if it's two of your Stormcaster, it will make no difference."

"And that's why I'm copying Lock instead," Sakura said as her life points decreased to three point five thousands. "And next up, I'll sacrifice my two Locks to bring forth Kerberos!"

The Lock and its copy vanished, and Kerberos appeared right next to Sakura. "Finally, a chance to show off my power."

"I'll switch my Stormcaster to defense," Sakura said, and a thin veil of fog appeared in front of her, "and since you asked for it, I'll attack your Priestess with Kerberos!"

Kerberos shot a fireball that turned the Priestess into a pile of ashes. "The only good Suzaku card is a toasted Suzaku card."

"So, I'll end my turn," Sakura said.

Hades looked at the battlefield and frowned. He could fool her the same way she had fooled him before, but for that he needed... Just the card he had drawn. "I'll offer my Druid and Zombyra to call forth Suzaku's Archon!" The new monster had three thousand attack points, which rose five hundred points as it appeared.

"Hmm, that's not enough to get Kerberos," Mei Ling noted. She was _almost_ enjoying this stupid duel. The monsters looked tough, too, specially this Archon. It looked like a knight in black armor, but had a magic staff instead of a sword.

"But it's more than enough to get Sakura herself," Tomoyo said.

Hades smiled, that was exactly what he was planning, but he was also ready for that Kerberos creature. "I activate Suzaku's Bond, and equip it to my Archon. I'll leave discovering its effect to you. I'll also activate this," he said as he picked a card from his hand, "Suzaku's Potion, which gives me two thousand life points. And last but not least, I attack the Stormcaster with Archon!"

Sakura was tackled out of the field by the Archon, and her suit reverted to normal as she stood up. Of course, that meant she had one less monster to attack with, but Kerberos was more than enough destroy his Archon.

"I'll end my turn, young one."

Unless that was exactly what he wanted. Sakura drew another card and nodded. Yue, who had almost as much defense as Kerberos had attack. It was a good card to summon, and she _could_ summon it right away, but it had a drawback she wasn't sure she wanted to have in this duel right now.

_'If you attack him, there's a chance Kerberos will be defeated. Having me as a shield would be a good strategy'_

Sakura listened to what Yue said in her mind, and then looked at the field. Yes, he was right, it was obvious Hades wanted to leave her defenseless.

Mei Ling yawned. "Are you going to defeat that creep already?"

"It may take me a few more turns," Sakura said. "In any case, I'll special summon Yue, in face-up defense position."

"No way, that monster's an eight stars one!" Hades exclaimed as Yue appeared, looking as cold as ever.

"Yes, but that's his effect. I can summon him directly, given I don't have any monster in my side of the field, not counting Kerberos or a fusion. The bad part is, I can't normal summon any monster for the next two turns. That would also apply to Kerberos, by the way."

"Oh, that's nice. So I'll just have to eliminate that lion and the angel, and you'll be defenseless."

"Of course, both Yue and Kerberos have other effects, but I think it'll be better if I don't mention them." She looked at Kerberos. "Get that Archon, Kerberos!"

"My pleasure," Kerberos said, and shot a fire blast at the enemy monster.

"Fell for it," Hades said, "I'll activate Bond's effect. When the monster this card's equipped to is destroyed, its attacker suffers the same fate."

Sakura should have looked worried when Kerberos vanished, but she was smiling. "And you think my turn ends now, right? I'm sorry, but you just activated Kerberos' second effect. When he's defeated, I can special summon another monster with the Pyro attribute to the field. And I have only one of those, so here's Fire!"

Hades glared at her. "I see you can battle way better than we thought."

"Fire, attack him directly." Hades' life point dropped to one point two thousands. "And now, I end my turn."

Mei Ling noticed something and sighed. "I thought you were out."

Minos was walking to her, his face showing he wasn't happy about his earlier defeat. "I'm going to punch that pretty face of yours in, girlie."

Mei Ling saw he was holding a knife and shook her head. "So much for fighting fair."

Minos rushed in, but Mei Ling dodged the initial swipe. He tried to slash down at her, but she dropped to the ground, kicking the knife away, then kicked out between his legs.

Tomoyo cringed as Minos fell to the ground in a heap. "That was... "

"He should have stayed down first time around," Mei Ling noted, "but I don't think he'll be standing up again before the duel ends."

Hades had meanwhile drawn another card, and looked at the field. "I guess this duel won't last much longer. I play Monster Reborn, and call back my Archon!"

"That's bad," Syaoran commented, "that thing's strong, and it can become stronger easily."

Hades snorted. "That's right, brat. I'll play another Druid, so my Archon goes up to four thousand attack points. Now, I'll have my Archon destroy your Fire."

"Huh? Why didn't he destroy Yue instead?" Tomoyo asked as Fire vanished.

"Because he's trying to intimidate her," Syaoran explained.

"And because he's scared of finding out what Yue's other effect might be," Sakura added. Her points were down to one point five thousands, but she wasn't afraid of that Archon. Yugi had told her once that the most important thing in a duel was trusting your cards, and she knew exactly what that meant.

"I'll set one card down and end my turn," Hades said, ignoring Sakura's words. "Let's see how you get out of this one, young one. "

Sakura drew another card, then sighed. "I suppose it's time to end this duel." She showed the card she had just drawn, The Arrow. "And this will help me do just that."

Syaoran chuckled. "I've seen what that card does, she used it once when training with Yugi."

Sakura saw Hades wasn't phased by the new card. "I suppose you want to know what this card does. Okay then. Arrow, strike that Archon!"

Hades smiled as his monster was destroyed again. "So you beat my Archon... I'll just have to bring something else next turn."

"There won't be a next turn. Arrow is a card that destroys monsters, and deals as much damage to its owner as attack points that creature had."

Hades staggered back as if hit by something, then sighed as the field vanished. "You fight well, Kinomoto, but you're still no match for Suzaku."

As impossible as it might have seemed, Hades picked Minos up effortlessly, and walked away. Mei Ling looked around and finally noticed something. "I wonder why Fei and Fang didn't help?"

"Because they were intercepted a few blocks north of here," Sakura said calmly, "but the enemy's retreating from there too."

Syaoran blinked in shock. "So the enemy didn't want any interferences."

Sakura smiled. "It's better this way, these duels are fun."

"But if you lost one of these duels..." Mei Ling started.

"Even if that happens, I know I have friends I can count on to bring me back."

Syaoran wasn't so sure about that. All he was able to do while she fought, was watch. If Sakura was in danger, he wanted to be able to help her, and he knew just who to ask if he wanted to have what he needed to protect Sakura.

* * *

"Well, well, I suppose this means you're not taking me along for the ride, Astra?"

Astra looked at her foe as the duel field vanished. "Don't let your guard down yet, Mr. Crawford."

Pegasus laughed softly. "Oh, rest assured I am not letting my guard down. Whatever your boss wants, if it has to do with my duel cards, then I'm not going to let him get it. Please tell him that next time you see him."

* * *

**A/N:** Mei Ling had a somewhat minor role in the old version, as did a lot of the other characters, but this time around I'm trying to bring them closer to the spotlight.

And yes, Kerberos and Yue both had a little modification from their stats in Summoner Wars, making summoning either harder, to balance the power they both have. They used to be five stars monsters, but now they're eight stars.

_Ning Jun_: Can Kaiba get _more_ arrogant? That's something that will be answered soon. As for Jou, I blame it on being around Yugi/Atemu so much.

 


End file.
